One Last Day
by circusfreak88
Summary: A comatose woman is sent to New Jersey to get care from the best doctor – Dr. Gregory House. A House M.D/ The O.C. crossover. Malex meets House M.D. Housisms and lesbianism throughout.
1. The Transfer

**Fandom:** House M.D/The O.C. crossover**  
Pairing: **Alex/Marissa  
**Rating: **Angstlike  
**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.  
**A/N1:** This is joint venture between me and crookedskyline.  
**A/N2: **Leave comments, they make us happy.

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**The Transfer**

"Everyone knows the Empire can kick the Federation's ass!" Lawrence Kutner leans onto the table, his face twisted in what seems to be anger. Leaning back on his chair Chris Taub squints at him, looking confused by such a statement. However, had he known his fellow doctor well-enough he'd know that to debate Star Wars with him is asking for trouble, or at the very least he'd waste a few hours of his life listening to Kutner explain why Star Wars is better than Star Trek ever was and ever could have been.

"You do know it's just television right?" Eric Foreman looks over the top of the medical journal at the two men, who both look at him. Giving a slight roll of his eyes he goes back to his reading. At the other end of the table sits Thirteen, drowsily leaning on her hand in hopes to keep her head from falling. As her eyes slowly begin to close a file drops on the table in front of her. She reaches forward, bypassing the folder, as she wraps her hand around the paper coffee cup.

"Unless you were up all night having lesbian sex I don't want to know why you're asleep on my table." She immediately opens her mouth to protest but is instantly silenced. "Just run the labs, Huntingtons."

"The notes say that the hospital in California already tested her for everything." Foreman chimes in as Thirteen gulps down a few mouthfuls of coffee, hoping it will caffeinate her enough to at least get her to her feet.

"And found nothing, which is why the mother has come to the best." He turns to Thirteen, who looks at him from behind the rim of the cup. "And the best wants fresh labs, so go!" She quickly jumps to her feet, tossing the cup into the trash with a little more force than was needed, as she exits the room.

"Just because Cuddy cut you off doesn't mean you should take it out on her." Foreman says as the brunette disappears down the hallway. Glancing at the folder enough to get the room number she hurries off to start the day and at least she could grab a nap while waiting for lab results.

As she reaches the patients room she opens the door. As she walks into the room she's stopped dead in her tracks. There, lying on the bed is a brunette, close to her age. A brunette she's all too familiar with. She immediately turns on her heels and walks out, closing the door behind her. Leaning against it, she opens the file and reads the name. "Oh fuck." She leans her head back.

A few feet away Gregory House is standing at the nurse's station engrossed in a conversation with James Wilson. However, the conversation doesn't hold his attention as he glances over at her. Immediately he breaks away from the conversation, causing Wilson to turn and watch him as he makes his way quickly toward Thirteen.

"I saw that!" He says loudly, causing her to open her eyes and look at him. She immediately straightens herself up.

"You saw nothing." She replies quickly.

"You know coma girl." He says, his cocky smile never fading as she remains silent. "What is she? Sister? Friend? Ex-friend? Ex-lover?" She simply looks at him. "Oh my god, this is fantastic. Wait till I tell the others!" She watches as he hobbles off down the hallway eagerly.

"Why is it that you only limp quickly when lesbians are involved?" She sighed, chasing him down the hallway.

"I also limp quickly when I'm following Cuddy's enormous ass." He smiled at her as he pulled open the glass door of the conference room. "Taub I just know you're going to love this."

"Can we just discuss this next door like adults?" She watched as he rolled his eyes but walked straight through to his office next door, ignoring Kutner's cries of curiosity.

"Why is it that you L-Worders have to take everything so seriously?" He sighed, sitting behind his desk.

"There's an ethical dilemma here." Her arms were folded across her chest as she stood in front of him.

"Okay, _Cameron_."

"If she hadn't resigned she would agree with me."

"But she has resigned and her agreement doesn't matter. I am your boss and I am bossing you around to get fresh labs on your comatose ex-lover."

"Amber." She said quietly.

Amber. Her name has been taboo around the hospital since she died. There were multiple times it'd nearly slipped from someone's lips, and then be promptly covered by a cough or a quick rewording. Everyone was afraid to say it, and for Thirteen to throw it out the way she did, there was no doubt that this patient was on the same level as Amber. That this was someone she could not possibly treat and do her job to her full ability as well.

Getting up from his chair without another word, House goes back to the door between his office and the diagnosis room.

"Token black guy," Foreman put down his journal, "Other token black guy." House sighed.

"I'm Indian." Kutner frowned at him.

"You want me to ask the token Jew?" Kutner simply rolled his eyes before standing up. "Run the labs that Lesbian won't."

"On that Marissa Cooper chick?" He asks as she turns her back to them, her arms still crossed, as she fights off the thoughts that are consuming her.

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Please read and review. Thank you, Circus and crookedskyline.


	2. The Tests

**The Tests**

"I've been throwing up for days now, I can't stop peeing, and I'm swelling all over. I think I'm allergic to something…" She blinks at the woman sitting in the paper gown in the examination table. "Or maybe I've come down with something. My husband always tells me I exaggerate but God only knows if he ever takes anything seriously…"

She was already zoned out and the woman only just began to talk. She'd been placed on clinic duty until House could 'figure out what to do with her.' She didn't mind, she thought it would give her some time to clear her head. Instead she only thought more about the girl laying in that hospital bed a few floors up.

Marissa Cooper. She'd been in a car accident with Ryan Atwood, aged 18, who was behind the wheel. They said he was run off the road by a drunken, vindictive ex-boyfriend of the victim. According to a statement from the ex-boyfriend, who was now spending some time behind bars, he tried to get Atwood to pull over, but when he failed to cooperate the man chose to force him off the road instead. The car went over an embankment, tumbled a few times, and landed upside down on a road beneath. When Atwood pulled the patient, an 18 year old Marissa Cooper, from the vehicle she was unresponsive. Fearing the worst, he claimed her death, but paramedics found her pulse. It was weak, barely noticeable, but it was there. She was hospitalized in Newport Beach thereafter.

She looked over at the calendar on the wall; it was April 12th. It'd been ten years since the accident that left Marissa Cooper in a coma, yet her family never gave up on the hope that she would one day wake up from the slumber. With brain activity spiking and then weakening and then spiking once more over time, they waited patiently for the day she would wake. Unfortunately, doctors saw little hope of that happening. It'd been too long and even if she did awaken, they would have no idea for how long or what state she would be in. Her mother didn't give up and fought for one last chance to see her daughter alive before they gave up on the hope they'd clung to for so long.

Her mind began to wander back to the year she got her life together. The year that Marissa Cooper graduated high school, she also did. She graduated in the top percent of her class and when she was accepted to Irvine, she couldn't have been happier. However, tragically, that is when her mother fell victim to a disease which cut her life short. Huntington's Chorea. She'd battled the disease for five years previously, but this was the year it began to go downhill more rapidly. Though she and her parents never had a close relationship, her mother's disease made her reevaluate some things in her life. Most importantly - her mortality. There was a good chance that she too might have Huntington's disease.

Her mother died three painful years later. She was 22 years old and was deep in college work and college debt. She knew she wanted to be a doctor; she had dreams of it, of bringing hope of a normal life back to the people who had no hope before. She never thought she'd make it as far as she did, between the problems she had growing up and her lack of commitment to anything important, but medicine seemed to be her saving grace, the one thing that her heart never failed to love.

A year before she went for her fellowship with doctor House, she legally changed her name to Rena Hadley. Hadley was her mother's maiden name, a name she kept near and dear to her heart. Rena was the name of the professor who helped her through the hard time, the struggles, when she was sure she'd give up on medicine all together. The name had meaning and she knew that it was time to shed her old identity and become someone new. She became Doctor Rena Hadley, and left Alex Kelly behind.

She hadn't thought of her old identity for so long she wasn't entirely sure there ever really was an Alexandra Kelly. The name never seemed to suit her and the memories that came with it were memories she'd much rather forget. Except for the memories of her mother and the memories of Marissa, there was nothing that made her ever want to step back into those shoes.

She hadn't seen Marissa for eleven years; they left on a bad note when she left Newport - actually to be honest - they really didn't leave on any note at all as she'd simply walked away without a goodbye. She had moved on though, thinking Marissa was happy with Ryan. That she was never enough for the damaged Newport Beach princess. She didn't know that things came to this, if she had known she might have done something. She might have…

She couldn't do anything. Not even now.

"So what do you think?" The woman on the examination table says loudly, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.

"Oh…" She says, looking down at the labs in the folder she's holding. "Your symptoms should clear up in about seven months."

"Seven months?" The woman exclaims, looking confused and bewildered. "What is it, Glandular fever?"

"No. You're pregnant." She replies shortly, looking at her beeping pager, as she signs off the paperwork and hands it to the woman. She mumbled her congratulations before she leaves the room swiftly. The results were back on Marissa and she couldn't control her curiosity. Even if she asked to be removed from the case, it was impossible for her to stay away from the one person she always loved.

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Thank you for your responses, please read and review. Circus and crookedskyline.


	3. The Results

**The Results**

She walks down the hallway swiftly, her coat brushing against her pants as she bites on her lip, her finger playing with the ring she's wearing. As she approaches, she notices the team gathered around the table, files begin passed around. She takes a deep breath and walks in, sitting down in the empty chair beside Taub. House stands opposite of her, his mouth agape.

"My pager went off." She says shortly.

"Did it now?" He replies, looking over at Kutner, who avoids eye contact.

"So you got the results?" She questions nonchalantly.

"Oh no…" House raises his cane, pointing and shaking it at her as if it were a finger. "You asked to be taken off this case."

"Foreman quit but he's still here." She retorts, looking sideways at Foreman who furrows his brow at her, before she looks back at House.

"But my balls aren't. Unless you want Cuddy to remove more of my manhood from me…"

"Her blood work and toxscreen are clean…" Foreman interrupts loudly, reading off the tests. "But after her seizure…"

"Seizure?" Alex speaks up, looking shocked. The team looks at her.

"As I said, after her seizure, there has to be something more going on."

"See this is precisely why I told Cuddy I would need my balls." House chimes in, only to be interrupted by Taub.

"We need to schedule an MRI, she might have a bleed."

"Spontaneous haemorrhage?" Kutner questions him.

"Haematoma…" Alex whispers.

"Order the MRI, we'll go from there." Foreman closes the folder.

"What about her family? Is anyone here?" She questions, looking around at everyone in the room. Kutner shakes his head.

"I didn't see any when I was drawing her blood…"

"Okay." She pushes herself up from the seat, rising to her feet.

"So what is it? Are you her doctor or her ex-lover?" House questions her sternly as she turns away from him.

"Can't I be both?" She questions as she walks out of the door, not waiting for a response.

She walks down the hallway and grabs the elevator, closing the door as the team exits the room. She rides silently, her eyes closed as she leans against the wall. When the doors open she steps out and walks toward Marissa's room. As she opens the door she finds it empty. Taking a deep breath, she closes the door behind her and walks inside, looking at Marissa's unconscious form. She sits down on the chair against the wall at the foot of the bed and pulls her knees to her chin.

If it is a haematoma and they repair the bleed, there could be a slight chance she might pull out of the coma. However, the bleeding would have most likely had to have occurred by trauma, and Marissa's been comatose for nearly 10 years. A spontaneous haematoma was rare, but possible. Still, if they fixed the bleed, she could begin to recover.

If Marissa wakes up, and recognises her, she'll have a lot of explaining to do. More than she'd like and more than she wants to. To explain the impact Marissa had on her life was impossible – it was so great. She is the person she's become because of Marissa and because of their break-up. As much as her heart has ached for the love she found in that 16 year old girl, she never regretted not staying that night. The only regret she had was never telling Marissa exactly how she felt and for disappointing the girl.

She drops her feet to the floor and stands, walking over to the bed. She reaches down and strokes Marissa's cheek softly.

"I won't let you down again, Riss…" She whispers, shaking off tears that threaten to fall, before she turns and leaves the room quietly, passing Kutner and Taub as she walks away. She ignores them as they quietly make bets about her and 'Coma girl' and heads back to the elevator, only this time she heads down to the E.R.

"My ex girlfriend is lying in a coma in room 314." She tells Cameron, causing both her and the teenage boy whose head she was stitching up to stare open mouthed at her. "Or something… I don't know. Forget it." She tells Cameron quickly, turning and heading back towards the elevator.

"Hadley!"

She stops, turns, and walks back towards the doctor and patient, hands in her pockets and out staring the boy as if daring him to say anything about her being a lesbian, bisexual, or… whatever.

"I shouldn't be telling you this but… House woke a guy who was in a vegetative state for 10 years with a large dose of L-dopa a little while back. But he was only awake less than a day. I'm not saying it'll work for her, since she's in a coma and I assume therefore not responsive as the man was, but…"

"Thank you." Thirteen replies softly. "Thank you…" She repeats again as Cameron nods and turns her attention back to her patient. Thirteen quickly walks off in search of as much information as she can about Levodopa and it's affects on the comatose. This could be the loophole she's been hoping for.

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Thank you for your responses, please read and review. Circus and crookedskyline.


	4. The Next Of Kin

**The Next Of Kin**

She sits on the floor of the cramped room, rows of shelves line the walls above her, each filled with manila folders; heavy metal filing cabinets line the floors around her, all filled with the files of past and present patients. All around her she had the documentation for either the sick or the dying. Somewhere in the room was a file marked 'Kelly, A.' a single red line on a page of black ones. Somewhere in the room was a file that could, effectively, end her career. Yet she was sat with someone else's file on her lap.

Empty coffee cups are scattered around the room, the only full one being the one in her hand, as she sits crossed legged on the floor, reading the file in her lap. She scratches her bare arm, she didn't know when she started reading but given that she had been forced to switch to caffeinated coffee she knew it was a while ago. She continued to scratch her arm, the caffeine affecting her more than she'd like to admit to the point that she'd taken her lab coat on and off several times. It now laid in the corner of the room, thrown there in a fit of anger as she tried to make sense of the file in front of her.

She reads over the file for the seventh time, having finally deciphered House's handwriting around the third time she was now focused on understanding all the information presented. It wasn't much, Cameron made most of the handwritten notes, and her handwriting was pristine. Which doesn't surprise her, at all, knowing what she does about the woman. The patient, Gabriel Wozniak, had been in a vegetative state for ten years. His house had burned down and he went back in to get his wife, he was found him unconscious three feet from the bedroom, asphyxiated. He was woken with a combination of L-dopa by House, but only lived less than 24 hours. Looking over the cause of death she shook her head, he committed suicide by hanging and luckily his heart was saved and transplanted into his son. She knew there had to be more to the story but the only person who could answer that question was:

"So I was in the E.R. avoiding Cuddy and some clinic hours I owe her." He'd told her before the door had even banged against the wall. "For someone who doesn't like me or want anything to do with me – Cameron is very quick to tell me everything I need to know." Alex simply looks up at him in confusion, waiting for whatever he's going to say next. He rolls his eyes at her. "Why are you trawling through Cameron's anal record keeping?"

"She gave me some information that could help Marissa." She stands, showing House the file, pointing to the records. "You woke a guy up last year-"

"Don't go getting any ideas," he sighed pushing the file away, "I'm the only person in this hospital that gets to do dramatically stupid things around here."

"But it wasn't stupid, it worked!" She exclaims, overly excited and eager, her eyes wide and hopeful.

"But it shouldn't have done." He retorts.

"Are you showing humility?" Alex was forced to frown at him, confused by the situation she suddenly found herself in.

"I think I am, if only Wilson was here to witness it…" House stops, bored with the pretence. "You're right, it would totally ruin my rep -"

"Don't say rep." She interrupts him.

"Street cred?" She simply shakes her head. "Oh, but Homie gets to speak street, it's a whole race thing. It's all political."

"Is it just the sound of your voice you love or do you just hate silence?" She questions.

"Look you're going to need me in on your little fairy-tale kiss plan." She looks at him in confusion.

"You're going to help me? Why? What do you want?"

"Can't I just help an employee of mine, as a boss I feel its my duty to…" He stops himself once more, looking up to find her standing with her hand on her hip, her eyebrow raised, and a very dubious look on her face. He rolls his eyes. "Fine, I'm hoping she'll wake up and be very grateful. It will be like real life L Word."

"How do you ever get laid?"

"He pays." Thirteen looks up and House spins around to see Cuddy standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. "My office, _NOW_."

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She sits behind the desk, resting her chin atop her hands. House is leaning on his cane and Alex is standing beside him, her hands in the pockets of the white lab coat she managed to slip on quickly as she left the room.

"No." Cuddy says frankly. Both Alex and House had presented the L-dopa argument to her, Alex somewhat more sensibly than House, and yet just that one word cut them off.

"Do you even know any other words?" House questions back.

"You are lucky you didn't get the entire hospital reposed to cover legal fees the last time you did this." She tells him, not looking up from Marissa's file.

"Yeah but its not me doing it this time, its Lesbian here." He casually throws a thumb in her direction.

"While we're here, can you get him to stop calling me that?" Cuddy looks at Alex, a look of utter disbelief covering her face. "Worth a shot." Alex shrugged, hands remaining closed in her pockets.

"That's it?" He looks at her, obviously appalled. "No 'We don't experiment on patient's lives', no 'You're risking her life', no 'You'll be torturing her and her family.'" He mimics Cuddy. "I am so victimised at this hospital."

"That's when it's you. Now that I know it's Dr Hadley, it's no longer an issue. She can be reasoned with, she can figure out on her own that no good can come from emulating your actions."

"Well how bout another trip to Atlantic City. That was fun!" House replies.

"Marissa will probably just want to go to a bar, maybe a club." Alex shrugs.

"Come on!" He gestures at Cuddy. "Now we have to do it; lesbians and alcohol?" Both women roll their eyes.

"Can I assume you've at least called the next of kin?" Cuddy asks Alex, ignoring House.

"I," Alex swallows as she considers what she's about to say. She clenches and unclenches her hands as she realises that what she's about to admit to Cuddy could most likely see her fired and with the confirmed diagnosis of Huntintons, regardless of the name she worked under, she would be hard pressed to find a job that allowed her interaction with the patients. "I was rather hoping we could do this without Julie."

She watched as Cuddy stood up, chair thrown back in the quickness of the action, hands literally slamming against the desk in front of her. She slams her eyes shut as she waits for Cuddy to control her anger long enough to fire her but just as Cuddy begins she's cut off by House:

"Who's Julie?" Her eyes snap open and she finds House directly in front of her, blocking Cuddy from view. "Please tell me she's another lesbian!"

"Well once, but that was during my Def Leopard phase and a lot of Jäger was involved." Alex and House both spin on their heels to find Julie Cooper clad in a power suit, standing in the doorway. Her arms are folded across her chest, her perfectly manicured nails tapping on her upper arm.

"Why do women keep sneaking up on us today?" House looks at Alex and questions.

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Thank you for your responses, please read and review. Circus and crookedskyline.


	5. The Jane Doe

**The Jane Doe**

She leans against the wall outside of Cuddy's office, staring blankly at the floor tiles as she tries to tune out House and Julie's bickering. Wilson walks toward the office, stopping beside of her as he glances inside of the room. He stands beside of her, leaning against the wall the same way she is.

"How long have they been at it?" Wilson questions her. She looks down at her watch.

"Nearing the twenty minute mark." She mutters, not looking at him, but instead turning her gaze from the floor, up to the ceiling - as if it's any more exciting to watch.

"Who's winning?" He questions her again and she sighs.

"God knows." Her chin drops as she stares into space.

"Who are you backing?" He continues to question.

"House, surprisingly. Though with the both of them calling me 'Lesbian' it's hard to choose." Wilson looks over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Julie and I go back." His expression doesn't change and she finally looks over at him. "I dated the patient, what seems like ages ago…" Wilson's face slowly being to twist, from a look of pure confusion to a look of complete realization.

"I just got his '31' joke." He says and she scoffs, turning her attention back to the ceiling tiles.

"Good times." She mumbles sarcastically.

The door suddenly swings open and Julie struts out, House on her heels, and Cuddy on his. No one looks her way as Julie continues toward the elevator, stepping inside she turns and presses the button, the doors closing slowly.

"I TiVo'd the L Word." House whispers loudly to Wilson.

"I have patients." Wilson replies. House looks at him, offended by the statement.

"Hey, its not my fault the only patient I have is unconscious. It's hers." He points to Cuddy.

"I need a word with you Hadley." Cuddy says, ignoring House's statement. Alex looks caught off-guard.

"Shouldn't I be with Julie and the patient…?" She questions.

"I'm not going to tell you twice." Cuddy opens the door to her office.

"And there was me thinking you saved that tone for me." House speaks up but he's ignored as Cuddy holds the door open for Alex.

She looks to House and Wilson for refuge but when they both look the other direction, she's forced inside. She stands in front of Cuddy's desk, her hand returning to her pockets as she waits for Cuddy to take a seat.

"I need you to reapply for your job." Alex looks blankly at her. "It has come to light that Rena Hadley is not your real name and consequently I, or rather the hospital, doesn't know who you are."

"My PhD - my experience - that's all real."

"And your police record?" Silence fills the room as Alex looks down.

"Ah." She finally breathes out.

"What's on it?" Cuddy questions her.

"Two counts of burglary, three cases of assault," She quickly adds. "but only one of those was aggravated and went to trial. I've never served time; it's all been community service."

"I'm going to have to ask you to reapply for you job. I'm sorry Rena."

"It's alright, I mean, you're just doing what you have to do." She sighs.

"Chances are nothing will come of this. Foreman has been in Juvie and House has an entire budget for his court cases. It's just a formality and a courtesy to the hospital board." She nods softly and turns to leave. "Secondly, have you changed your name officially?"

"No." Alex says shortly, almost embarrassed. Cuddy's hands shoot to her head, as she closes her eyes and massages her temples.

"Whose social security number are you using?"

"Mine…" She replies. "Alex Kelly's."

"And the medical records?" Cuddy questions.

In retrospect it was amazing that she hadn't been found out earlier. Practicing medicine under a name that didn't exist – when she'd first started doing it, filling out bank applications, applying for loans, renting apartments, buying cars – every time she put down the wrong name she thought 'This will be the time I get caught' and yet she didn't. No one chased up references, no one checked dates or numbers. It was all just accepted as fact until she'd written the wrong name so many times that it had become the right one.

It was only until it came to the medical records did she ever break the law. Fraud. Deception. A crime for which community service wasn't an option.

She swallows, considering her options. Demosthenes said 'Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.' She couldn't guarantee that she didn't have Huntingtons but she'd prayed to every god she didn't believe in that she didn't have it and an old friend made it true.

"My friend Jodie's." Cuddy sighs, defeated.

"Out. Now."

And with that her career is over. Previously she just had to face the hospital board and argue that she was a much needed and trusted member of staff despite the deceit. Now she has to face the hospital board and beg them not to hand her information over to the D.A.

Another quote suddenly forced its way into her head 'And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.' She remembered it from the first time she watched _Fight Club_, in a tiny damp ridden apartment with Seth Cohen.

She is in the elevator, heading to the third floor and the girl in room 314. Without hope, without future, without plan she heads to the nurses' station and the drug cabinet. Without hope, without future, without plan she knows what she has to do.

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Thank you all for reading and reviewing, we really appriciate it. Thank you circus and crookedskyline.


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